


Elf Crane to the Rescue

by NerdyGrlWonder



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Drabble, Elf, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 23:39:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2751455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NerdyGrlWonder/pseuds/NerdyGrlWonder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She tried to pull herself together. Clearly, laughing in his face was not going to make him want to go to work and she needed him to work just so her purse strings weren’t drawn so tight. Abbie pulled her lips into the thinnest line possible to stop from laughing and composed herself before she spoke again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Elf Crane to the Rescue

**Author's Note:**

> Because who wouldn't laugh at Ichabod Crane dressed as a giant elf?
> 
> I do not own Sleepy Hollow or any of the characters there within.

“Do you trust me?”

“This isn’t a question of trust. This is a question of decency.”

“No, it’s a question of trust. You asked me to help you and I did. Now, do. You. Trust. Me?”

Abbie stood with her arms crossed, rapidly tapping her foot in front of the men’s dressing room door. Crane had been in there for over twenty minutes. She understood his hesitation at stepping out of the tiny room, but she didn’t have time for modesty and quite frankly, neither did he.

Ichabod popped his head over the door to glare at her.

“Of course I trust you, but this is _not_ what I had in mind when I asked your help in procuring a new source of income.”

Abbie’s patience was wearing thin. She had exactly twenty-five minutes until her next shift started and fifteen to get him to his new job on time; a job that she was desperate for him to have. It isn’t that she resented having to take care of him. It was actually a bit endearing in a weird way but with the return of Katrina, adding yet another person to the list of adults to take care of was financially straining her; badly.

“Listen, until Reyes relents and brings you on as a permanent consultant, it’s this or nothing. It’s the holidays. You’ll be working extra hours. It isn’t much in the way of pay, but it’d go a long way towards helping me out.”

Abbie could see Crane’s eyes soften over the door. He may not like the job she found him but she knew he would do it – although grudgingly – for her.

“C’mon Crane. You have to be to work in less than ten minutes. Just come out of the dressing room!” Abbie didn’t whine but this was ridiculous. She was skating on wafer-thin ice with Reyes as it was. The last thing she needed was to be late to work…yet again. “It can’t possibly look that bad.”

Abbie thought she vaguely heard him mumble _you have no idea._

“You must promise me lieutenant that you will not mock me when I come out” he begged.

“Just get your ass out here so we can go, please.”

She had a great poker face. It took a lot to ruffle her feathers but when Ichabod Crane, revolutionary soldier from 1781, finally emerged from the dressing room, she burst out laughing. She was laughing so hard; she had doubled over and was holding her stomach.

There he stood, all six plus feet of him, dressed in a bright green elf suit complete with red tights and curly toed shoes – with bells.

“You promised not to mock me.”

“No…I said… get your ass…” Abbie couldn’t even finish the sentence. He looked positively ridiculous and adorable at the same time. Between him flexing his hands the way he always did when agitated and the scowl on his face, he could have won the award for grumpiest elf of the year.

She tried to pull herself together. Clearly, laughing in his face was _not_ going to make him want to go to work and she _needed_ him to work just so her purse strings weren’t drawn so tight. Abbie pulled her lips into the thinnest line possible to stop from laughing and composed herself before she spoke again.

“I’m sorry. I know this must be uncomfortable for you.”

“Uncomfortable is a word that bears no weight compared to the shame I feel.”

“Think of it this way: there are hundreds of kids who will get a kick out of you in that getup. You’ll be able to make them happy. Some kids really need that this time of year.”

Ichabod noticed a far off look in her eyes. They now knew that her mother had battled demons long before Miss Mills had ever become aware of them. He was sure that didn’t mean that the broken holidays didn’t haunt her.

If he could bring a smile to the face of a child who was possibly in the same boat as the lieutenant had once been, then the embarrassing display and outfit would be worth in in the grand scheme of things. He steeled himself to what was to come and held his head high.

“Very well, shall we get this over with then?”

“Aren’t you forgetting something” Abbie asked with a sly smile on her face.

“What is it now?”

Abbie walked past him into the dressing room and grabbed a floppy green and red hat off of the bench. Standing on her tippy toes, she placed it on his head and rung the bell that hung at its end.

“Your hat, Sir.”


End file.
